For some months ophthalmologists have been tempted to prescribe a drug that hasn't been approved for eye disease. They've been using Avastin® (bevacizumab) to treat age-related macular degeneration ( AMD ), instead of the same company's Lucentis® (ranibizumab). An injection of Lucentis costs about $2000, whereas Avastin is about $40.

Now Genentech has negotiated an agreement with the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Retinal Specialists, which will allow physicians to prescribe Avastinand purchase it directly from authorized wholesale distributors, who in turn will ship where it's needed.

This is a big step in the right direction. In some ways, you can't blame Genentech for trying to keep the two drugs in separate 'compartments', in order to recover their costs for researching and developing each. However, once theeffectiveness of the cheaper Avastin was known, they could have been much speedier in coming to this sort of solution. Once again, the pharmaceutical industry emerges with a somewhat blackened eye.